HOBOKEN -- Wednesday night, the Hoboken City Council voted 5-4 to hire high-powered attorney (and former Hoboken resident) Gerald Krovatin to represent city officials as they deal with an investigation into comments allegedly made by high-ranking state officials in conversations with Mayor Dawn Zimmer last year.

Zimmer has said that Christie's top officials suggested to her last May that Hurricane Sandy aid for the mile-square city was tied to Zimmer's support of development plans by a private company, the Rockefeller Group, which had been buying land in uptown Hoboken.

On Wednesday, MSNBC reported that Zimmer said she had told five people about the situation last year after it happened, including Zimmer's chief of staff, Dan Bryan, and her spokesman, Juan Melli. MSNBC quoted sources as saying that Bryan and Melli were already questioned by the FBI.

MSNBC also quoted Councilman David Mello as saying that Zimmer mentioned key conversations with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagnano to him last summer.

The Hoboken Reporter interviewed Zimmer this past Saturday night and asked her whom she had told about the conversations, but Zimmer declined at the time to say.

At a busy City Council meeting Wednesday night, many residents spoke about the issue, and the council sparred over whether to hire Krovatin, who has already represented the city in several lawsuits. Krovatin and wife Anna Quindlen, the writer, lived in Hoboken for many years.

One resident on Wednesday praised the mayor's "courage." Another said the mayor was being hypocritical, as Zimmer recently said she had terminated her former public safety director because he was asked to do something illegal by a developer and never told anyone about it. The issue arose recently because the fired employee was awarded $1 million from the city as a result.

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